Grinding, polishing, or buffing machine.



- No. 708,|27. Patented Sept. 2, I902.-

c. F. cnuncu. r GRINDING, POLISHING, 0B BUFFING MACHINE.

(Application filed Jan. 24, 1900.)

(No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet I.

C. F. CHURCH. GRINDING, POLISHING, DRIBUFFING MACHINE.

Patented Sept. 2, I902.

(Application filed Jan. 24, 1900.

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 (No Model.)

Pafented Sept. 2, I902. c. ,F. CHURCH. GRINDING,- POLISHING, 0R BUFFING MACHINE. (Application filed Jan. 24, 1900.) (No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

UNITED STATE PATENT OFFICE.

-HAR ES F CHUROH, OFHDLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS.

GRINDING, POLISHING, OR BUFFING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 708,127, dated September 2, 1902. Application filed January24,1900. strain... 2,567. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES F. CHURCH, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Holyoke, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, (whose post-office address is Holyoke, Massachusetts,) have invented new and useful Improvements in Grinding, Polishing, or Buffing Machines,-of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying draw ings, and to letters and numerals of referenc marked thereon.

My invention relates .to machines for automatically polishing, grinding, or buffing the surfaces of rods or-tubes or similar articles of differing cross-sectional shape and of either uniform size throughout their length or of tapered or other form.

The objects of this invention are various, notably among which are to provide a series of polishing or grinding wheels, arranged and mounted at such angles relative to each other and tothe work that is passed therebetween that every portion of the surfaces of said work shall be engaged by the peripheries of the two or more polishing or grinding wheels; to provide. means. for guiding and feeding the work into engagement with and delivering from said polishing or grinding wheels; to provide supports and bearings of novel construction for said polishing or grinding wheels, whereby said wheels may be made to exert a uniform pressure upon all parts of the surfaces of the work passed therebetween, and to provide certain details of construction hereinafter set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, in which like characters of reference indicate like parts, Figure 1 is a side elevation showing a convenient embodiment of my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the main supporting-frame of the machine and the base or pedestal therefor and one of the horizontal arbor-bearings thereon. Fig. 4 is a perspective view, partly in vertical section, of one of the horizontal arbor-bearings as removed from the frame. Fig. 5 is a perspective View of one of the vertical arborsupports. Figs. 6 and 7 are details of vertical upper and lower arbor boxes or bearings. Fig. Sis a cross-section of a piece of work, showing the edges of several polishing-wheels in contact therewith. Fig. 9 isa perspective view of mechanism for automatically applying a polishing compound to the periphery of a polishing or buffing wheel.

The construction and operation of my device will be readily understood upon reference to the drawings in connection therewith.

In detail, A is the main supporting-frame of the machine, shown mounted on a suitable base; and it consists of acentral upwardly-ex tending portion having on what I will call its front face the vertical dovetail slideways 2, in which are supported, above and below the line of the feed-table C, the horizontal arbor-supports 3 3. On either side of the lower portion of the frame A and on the rear face thereof are the lateral extensions 13 B,

preferably made integral with frame A. On

the upper edges of frame 13 are the slideways 4, on which the dovetail portions of the vertical arbor supports 5 are supported. The lower portions of said supports 5 rest against and are secured to the faces 6 of the frame B by thebolts 7, which pass through the slots 8 in the lower bar of the frame B.

The machine as illustrated in Fig. 2 shows two sets of polishing or grinding devices. It is obvious that with the frame A, as shown, or a similar frame only one set of operating mechanism may be employed. Each of the frame extensions 13 is provided with two of the vertical arbor-supports 5, located at either side of the line of the feed-table C. These supports 5 are rendered easily adjustable to and from each other by the right and left hand threaded screws 9, as clearly shown in Fig. 2.

As shown in the several views of the drawings, the machine is equipped for buffing or polishing, and 10 10 represent horizontallyrotating buffing or polishing wheels, consisting, preferably, of disk-shaped rags of cloth clamped tightly between suitable collars on the upper ends of the arbors 12 12. These wheels 10 are supported at the same height as and. at either side of the line of the feedtable G. The arbors 12 are revolubly suplast-named bearings are secured to the upper portion of the support 5. The box 17, which forms a sliding bearing for one of the tru nnions 15, is provided with a recessed nut 18, between which and the end of the trunnion is provided a spring 19, thus permitting the upper ends of the arbors 12 12 to swing slightly to and from each other to accommodate different sizes of material during their conveyance between the polishing-wheels 10 10. By adjusting the nuts 18 out or in the tension of spring 19 is lessened or increased, and the wheels 10 may be caused to exert different degrees of pressure on the material conveyed therebetween. The construction of the bearings for the horizontal arbors 2O 20 are identical with those just described, the only difference being in their location that is, to support the arbors 2O 20 in horizontal instead of vertical position. The polishing-wheels 22 22 on the extremities of the said arbors 2O 20 are preferably of the same form and size of those before described and are located in front of the wheels 10 10 and are arranged to revolve directly above and below the line of the feed-table O, and said horizontal arbor-carrying supports 3 3 are adjustable to and from each other by means of the hand wheels and screws 24, as clearly shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3. The arbors 12 12 and 20 20 are each provided about midway of their length with pulleys 25 and may be driven by any suitable arrangement of belts and pulleys located on any driving-shaft or counter-shaft of ordinary construction. In the machine illustrated in the accompanying drawings I have provided a counter-shaft 26, supported on floorbearings at some distance in the rear of the frame A, and have provided on shaft 26 a series of pulleys 27, each of which is in line with one of the before-mention ed arbor-pulleys 25, the horizontal arbors 2O 20 being driven by straight belts 2S and the vertical arbors 12 12 by half-turned belts 29. To compensate for any slackness of belts 28 that may be caused by adjusting the arbor-supports 3 3 up or down on the frame A, I have provided idler-pulleys 30,which are supported on suitable shafts 31. The bearings for said shafts 31 are adjustably attached to uprights 33, which uprights are located between the counter-shaft 26 and the frame A. One end of the counter-shaft 26 is provided with a driving-pulley 35 or with the ordinary tight and loose pulleys in common use. At a point just in front of the pol ishing-wheels 22 22 is a shaft 36, extending transversely across the machine and supported at each end in bearings adjustablyattached to uprights 37. Secured on either end of said shaft 36 are grooved feed-rolls 38, preferably of rubber. These rolls 38 are in line with and slightly above the feed-table C. At a point directly below these feed-rolls 3S and somewhat below the top of the feed-table O are located the grooved idler-rolls 40. These rolls 40 are independently mounted on one end of pivoted levers 41 and are held in a raised position, as shown in Fig. 1, by the downward pressure of a spring 42, the lower ends of which springs are attached to the base portion of uprights 37 and their upper ends to the opposite extremity of the pivoted levers 41. At any convenient place on the shaft 36 is located a large pulley 44., which has a belt connection with a smaller pulley 44, located on a shaft 45 and supported on the upright 33. This shaft 45 is also provided with a large pulley 46, which in turn is belt-connected with a small pulley -17, located at any convenient place on counter-shaft 26. This arrangement of belt connections serves to drive the feedrolls 38 at a comparatively slow speed. At a point just to the rear of the polishing-wheels 1O 10 is located another set of feed-rolls identical in construction and operation with those just described,which last-mentioned rolls are also belt-driven from a small pulley-48 located on shaft 45. As will be seen by the foregoing description and by reference to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, all of the various polishingwheels are rotated in the same direction. It will also be seen that the adjacent peripheries of a pair of coacting wheels travel in opposite directions, as indicated by the arrows X in Fig. 1. Thus any rods or other material conveyed between the wheels of a pair will receive an abrading effect therefrom upon opposite sides thereof,and a further conveyance of said rods between other pairs of wheels arranged to rotate at a different angle from the first pair will likewise produce an abrading or polishing or grinding effect upon other portions of the surface of said rods than that first acted upon. It is, however, within the province of this invention to produce the same results by rotating the several pairs of polishing-wheels in opposite direction one to the other, in which case their adjacent peripheries would travel in the same direction; but being driven at a much higher speed than the friction feed-rolls the slipping action of the contacting peripheries of a pair of wheels so rotated would produce a similar abrading or polishing effect as in the way first described.

In using polishing-wheels constructed of rags or cloth, as hereinbefore described, it has been the custom to apply to their peripheries from time to time by hand certain polishing compounds. At one place on Fig. 2 of the drawings and fully shown in perspective in Fig. 9 is a device for automatically applying said compound. This device consists in a lever 50, pivotally supported on a bracket 5l, rigidly attached to any convenient part of the machine. On a curved ex tension of lever 50, beyond its pivot 52, is a small roller 53, which is held in contact with a cam 54, located on feed-roller shaft 36, by a spring 55, as shown. At the extremity of the long end of lever 50 is a recessed box-like receptacle 56, in which a piece of polishing compound may be adjustably secured by means of the set-screw 57. In operation the roller 53 while in engagement with the high part of the cam54 will hold the polishing compound secured at the opposite end of the lever 50 out of engagement with the polishing-wheel it supplies; but when said roll 53 engages with the recess or lower part of the cam 54 the other end of the lever 50, carrying the polishing compound, is brought into contact with said polishing-wheel and deposits a.

certain amount of the polishing compound thereon.

Having therefore described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a grinding and polishing machine, the

'above and below whereby .the same may be adjusted to and from each other, substantial] y as shown and described.

2. In a grinding and polishing machine, the combination with the polishing-wheels, the feed-wheels, and the shaft thereof, of a polish-applying device comprising a lever formed to carry a polishing material in its free end,

a roller on its other end, a spring to hold the polishing material in contact with the polishing-wheel, and a cam on the feed-wheel shaft to carry the lever with the polishing material free from the polishing-wheel, substantially as specified.

3. In a grinding and polishing machine, the combination with the polishing-wheels, of an automatically-operated device for applying polishing material to the wheels, comprising a suitably-mounted lever extended inboth directions beyond its fulcrum or pivotal support, and formed to carry a polishing material in the end of the arm adjacent to the said wheels, a roller on the other arm of the lever, a cam to actuate the lever, and a spring to hold the roller inengagement with the cam.

4. .In a grinding and polishing machine, a vertical supporting-frame formed with laterally-extended guideways at its base, laterally-adjustable plates formed with coincident grooves mounted on the guideways, and having rearwardly-projecting arms provided with bearings, vertically-disposed bearingboxes formed with trunnions to seat within the bearings of said arms, lower vertical bearings carried by the plates, vertical shafts in the bearings, and polishing wheels operatively mounted on the shafts.

5. In a grinding and polishing machine, a vertical supporting-frame formed with latorally-extended frames having guideways on their upper edges and provided with hori-r zontally-elongated slots in the lower portion,

laterally-adj ustable plates formed with coincident grooves mounted on the guideways and having rearwardly-projecting arms provided with bearings, a fastening-bolt projected through the said slots, vertical bearing-boxes having trunnions to engage in the bearings of said arms, lower vertical bearings formed with an arm to engage in the said plates, vertical shafts in .the bearings, and polishing-wheels operatively mounted on the shafts.

6. In a grinding and polishing machine, the combination of a relatively stationary feed-wheel,a lever suitably f ulcrumed,a feedroller journaled in one end of the lever and arranged adjacent to its companion roller,

and a retractile spring secured to the other endof thelever.

7. In a grinding and polishing machine, the combination with a vertically-disposed supporting-frame, and adjustable bearings supported by the frame, of upper and lower horizontally-arranged shafts mounted in the bearings at the front of the frame, vertical polishing Wheels on the shafts, vertical shafts mounted in the bearings at the rear of the frame, and horizontally-disposed polishingwheels mounted on the vertical shafts.

8. In a grinding and polishing machine, the combination of avertically-disp'osed supporting-frame, horizontal shafts mounted at the front of the frame, alining polishing-wheels on the shafts, vertical shafts mounted at the rear of the frame, alining polishingwheels on the upper ends of thevertical shafts, feedrollers at the front of the frame and polishing-wheels, and feed-rollers at the rear of the frame and rear polishing-wheels.

9. In a grinding and polishing machine, the combination with the shaft of the polishingwheels, of bearing-boxes formed with trunnions,bearings to take the trunnions, ascrewthreaded chamber in one of the bearings, a socket-plug having exterior screw-threads to engage those of the said chamber, and an expanding spring in the socket arranged to bear with one end on theend of the trunnion.

10. The combination in apolishing-machine, of a suitable frame, suitable polishing-wheels mounted thereon, and means for automatic ally and intermittently feeding one or more of the polishing-wheels with a polishing material, said means comprising a holder for the polishing material mounted upon a lever, a shaft having a cam as 54 mounted thereon revolving in engagement with one arm of the lever, and a spring arranged to-maintain the engaging arm of the leverin contact with said cam, the cam being shaped to allow the holder of the polishing material to be carried toward the polishing-wheels as said cam revolves, and 'means to revolve the shaft upon which the cam is mounted, substantially as shown.

CHARLES F. CHURCH.

Witnesses:

' J. D. GARFIELD,

DEXTER E. TILLEY. 

